This invention relates to covers for the hand, and more particularly to covers for the hand which incorporate tension activated removal features.
Hand covers of all types have long been used for a great number of purposes. While often necessary for their purpose, they also have drawback associated with them. They often hinder or prohibit the use of the users hands and thus frequently need to be removed and reapplied so that I user can perform tasks with their unencumbered hands and fingers. It is often awkward, time-consuming, or inherently impractical for users to remove their hand covers and reapply them. Users are often faced with removing a hand cover or a portion of a hand cover from one hand while wearing a hand cover on the opposite hand, thus adding and even greater burden to the process. Hand covers of the prior art require both hands for the application and removal process.
The prior art has provided some answers to problems inherent to the use of hand covers. Some gloves, such as the HEAT3 brand, for example, have finger compartments that allow a user to fold them back on themselves and secure them to the rear portion of the glove where they snap into place or are secured in position by a hook and loop style fastener. These fold back gloves and mittens are referred to as “Pop Top” hand covers. While this style is effective it is still time consuming and requires both of a user's hands to operate. Others use a rope or cord to tether themselves to the user's forearm when not in use, but still must be pulled free of the user's hands. The gloves are then left to dangle near the user's hands, making them a further inconvenience, or even perhaps a danger.
U.S. Published Application No. 2013/0039776 shows a white water hand paddle that can break free from a user's hand and remain tethered around their wrist. This may seem useful in that the paddle might not be lost, but whitewater conditions make a hard piece of plastic loosely tethered around the wrist not only inconvenient but dangerous to life and limb.
There also have been many different types of forearm-mounted swimmer's aids that have been used in the past, such as U.S. Pat. No. 2,771,618 that discloses pivoting fins on a forearm sleeve. These types of devices may potentially be used in surfboarding, in that the hand is freed up for handling the surfboard, but rarely are because they have numerous drawbacks and limitations. Simply put, the weight they add to the arm is less than offset by the increase in padding power and efficiency gained. This would perhaps actually increase fatigue associated with moving though the water.
Most surfers do not use paddles or in any way cover their hands. They know that they are going to need to use their free hands to grab and maneuver their boards not merely once but continuously throughout their surfing process. Almost all other water sports benefit from the use of paddles for maximum speed, power, and efficiency. Surfers don't typically use paddles because they constantly require the use of their hands to adjust and position their surfboards and paddles can impede that process. To be of maximum benefit a paddle needs to be positioned in front of the hand exactly where it most impedes the use of a hand.
A surfer must have free hands to grab his board and force it down under an oncoming wave in a maneuver called a “duck dive”. The speed at which a surfer is moving through the water toward a wave and the safety of deeper water is critical to their successful effort to dive under it as opposed to getting washed over the top of it and thrown back toward the shore. Furthermore, a surfer who is able to paddle through the water quickly is more likely to beat large sets of incoming waves entirely by getting out into deep water beyond the depth where they are breaking with greater speed.
A surfer must match the speed that an incoming wave is moving to catch it and thus they paddle excessively as the wave approaches to gain the position and speed required to catch the wave but only have their bare hands or webbed finger gloves to do so. The larger a wave is the faster a surfer must be moving to catch it. Thus a surfer must accurately read the characteristics of an incoming wave, decide whether to pursue it, position themselves and propel themselves through the water at a sufficient speed to catch it. The larger a wave is the larger the amount of time and space is required to do this.
At some point, waves become uncatchable without some sort of aid. Hand paddles can reduce the amount of time and space required for a surfer to respond to a large incoming wave and also increase their acceleration times and peak paddle speeds. This would allow paddle in surfers to catch waves larger than ever before possible.
The added surface area that hand paddles create not only increases acceleration power, but also stopping power, allowing a surfer to brake in the water and back themselves out of dangerous incoming waves that they previously would have had no choice but to allow their forward momentum to carry them straight into. These types of safety concerns are also important. When dealing with large crashing waves and white water conditions, a rigid paddle strapped to your hand or arm could become a dangerous weapon capable of causing severe damage to a surfer and/or others if caught and tossed about by the force of the surrounding water. For safety reasons, a paddle's design should include padding, be as compact as possible when not in use, be able to open and close easily, and remain closed under the turbulence and force of hostile and unpredictable water forces and conditions.
As another concern associated with surfing, the constant repetitive motion of the swimming stroke makes serious joint problems more likely. By transferring more of the work of paddling from the joints to the muscles, reduction of injuries can be achieved.
The prior art to date has not provided a safe, timely, and functional answer to the many problems posed by the application, removal, and stowing hand covers as addressed above.